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| Why did God make all of the animals twice? Did God create nothing but male animals, realize he screwed up, and decide to do the whole thing all over again with female animals? How did God exactly plan for Adam to reproduce the human race with all those animals but no woman? Why are there two completely different accounts of the creation story in first two books of the Bible?
Many orthodox and fundamentalist Christians and Jews used to believe that Moses wrote all of the books of the Torah, including the creation story. In fact, some still believe this. However, believing Mosaic authorship advocates that Moses created the Torah at some post Alzheimer’s time in his life (since he seems to have written it, forgot what he wrote, and wrote it again).
Or perhaps there is a more logical and better supported origin of the Torah.
Let us start our journey by rehashing the whole creation story:
Chapter 1
In the beginning, God makes some light, simply by talking. Then God makes the upper waters (which we now know do not exist) and the lower waters. Then God makes land, and then some plants, then the stars in the sky. Then God makes the sun (somehow after he made the light) and the moon. Once he finishes decorating the place, he starts making animate life in the order of sea creatures, birds, and then land animals. He finishes the show off with man and woman (simultaneously) and takes a day off.
Chapter 2
In Genesis 2 God does it all over again, but in a different order. This time God makes man by shaping him out of dust and blowing the wind of life up his nostril. God does this ‘when all produce of the field had not yet been in the earth, and all vegetation of the field had not yet been grown, for God had not rained on the earth, and there had been no human to work the ground.’ Then God plants the Garden of Eden. God sees that Adam is lonely and so he decides to make him a ‘help meet.’ Once again, God ‘fashioned from the ground EVERY animal of the field and EVERY bird of the skies.’ God then parades these animals in front of Adam to see if they fulfill his need (because at this point in history God is not yet omniscient enough to know that Adam really just wants some action). None of these animals will do, so God knocks Adam out and takes one of Adam’s ribs. From this rib, God makes a woman.
What are the big differences?
• God creates man first in Genesis 2 and last in Genesis 1.
• God creates man and woman together in Genesis 1 and at different points in Genesis 2.
• God creates animals from the waters in Genesis 1 and from the dirt in Genesis 2.
• God creates the animals on different days in Genesis 1 and altogether in Genesis 2.
• God is all powerful in Genesis 1 and can speak light into being. In Genesis 2, God cannot even read Adam’s mind.
• God creates the land before the waters in Genesis 2. This occurs in the reverse order in Genesis 1.
• And the list goes on and on. . .
How could Moses, in all his righteousness and ability to speak to God, screw up do royally? The simple answer is, ‘he didn’t, but we did.’
Moses did not write the first five books of the Bible. According to the Documentary Hypothesis, they were written over a span of about 500 years by several different authors and editors. In the Genesis 1 & 2 conflict, the time span between the creation and compilation of the two chapters is between 200 and 400 years.
Genesis 1 was most likely written by a group referred to as ‘the priestly writers’ either after the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BC by the Assyrians or during the Babylonian exile of the Jews in 586 BC. For the most part, it was written to assert that the Sabbath was not just a tradition made by man to set the Jews apart and retain their culture, but as a command set down by God in the beginning of all time.
However, Genesis 2 predates Genesis 1. It was most likely one of the first Jewish writings. Derived from a centuries-old oral tradition, it took written form in the late 9th century BC. In this document, God is referred to by the name YHWH, rather than Elohim (or literally God) as he is called in Genesis 1.
So how did these two stories end up together?
After the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BC, the two cultural narratives (the YHWH and Elohim Documents) were combined into one document. Biblical scholars refer to this document as RJE or the Yehwehist-Elohimist Document. These two chapters remained stagnant until sometime after the Babylonian exile of 586 BC. During this time the word ‘God’ was added after each occurrence of the word YHWH in Genesis 2. In addition, Genesis 2:4 was added. This verse states, ‘These are the records of the skies and the earth when they were created.’ These edits and additions were added to help build a sense of consistency between the two conflicting stories.
What does this all mean?
First off, the Torah was not written by Moses. It was written by many unnamed authors over a period of several centuries. Second, the Bible is not infallible. It has been edited and added upon to fulfill the cultural needs of the times and the agenda of the authors. Third, because these stories conflict, it is not possible to state that they are both historical fact. Therefore, neither can be treated as such.
This being said, does it really matter? Who (other than the incredibly naive) actually believe that the earth was created in six days? Who actually believes that God felt the need to bring the first life into the world by blowing up the nose of a dust sculpture? As Christians, we should be able to look at these narratives as what they are; an attempt by men to cope with their own finite nature and reach beyond into a connection with the infinite. When not taken literally, the creation is a beautiful narrative of a source of life so strong that all life sprang from the essence of its breath. This is a powerful image which should not be ruined by the emptiness of biblical literalism. | | |
| I recently came across a blog that asked, 'Why choose Christianity? . . . If you interpret the Bible as accurate and truthful, there are serious problems with the theology, history, science and morals. But if the Bible is metaphorical, isn't that a very shaky system on which to base one's beliefs? . . . Could it be that the popularization and feasibility of a metaphorical interpretation to Christianity shows just how unsteady the faith actually is?'
This is my Response: The Bishop Paul Tillich once wrote in his book, The Dynamics of Faith that part of faith is the courage to doubt. Too often we get the word ‘faith’ confused with the word ‘belief.’ Faith is more than belief. Faith, as Tillich put it, is the ‘concern with the ultimate.’ It's not something one chooses to believe, but that distinctive part of the human personality that feels the need to connect with something ultimate or infinite-- something beyond oneself and one’s own finity. Part of this characteristic of the human condition is the courage to doubt-- the courage to doubt that there is an infinite or ultimate, but drive to fulfill this longing and connect to this Ground of All Being anyway. So, doubt is part of faith.
A literal translation of the Bible is filled with holes. There is too much contradictory material to follow the Bible with perfect literalism. The Bishop John Spong has used the metaphor that the Torah is the Jewish ‘Iliad and Odyssey.’ It is a collection of stories designed to give the ‘Jewish’ people an epic history.
The first Biblical writings took place almost 500-1,000 years after the person known as Abraham could have existed (called the YHWH Document). Therefore, we must first begin with the understanding that many of the stories have passed through the filter of time.
The second oldest part of the Bible is the E (Elohim) Document which was written before 722 BC, which was added to the original YHWH document to create a combination of the epic histories of the southern kingdom of Judah and northern kingdom of Israel. This took place after Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom. This document was called the YHWH-Elohim Document. In addition, the ‘priestly writers’ added a substantial amount of material to this compilation (some believe they may have done so at a much later date). Then in 622 BC the Deuteronomistic Documents were added to the YHWH-Elohim Document to create the YHWH-Elohim-Deuteronomistic Document. In 586 BC, this compilation was once again added to, edited and revised during the Babylonian exile.
So, just the first five books are a collection of historical fact, oral tradition/mythology, poetry and law written over a period of about 500 years. With this knowledge, it would be hard take the whole thing figuratively, because it does contain some concrete history. However, it is also hard to take the whole thing literally because much of it was revised centuries after it was first written and a substantial portion was written from an oral tradition which spanned several centuries. Therefore, to come to an accurate interpretation, one must learn where, when and why a book or verse was written in order to truly understand how it is to be taken and how much validity to assign to it.
With this in mind, I find it easy to believe in an ultimate or infinite. Christianity does not have to be based around a book. Granted, the Bible does have quite a lot of inspiring and thought provoking content. But why should we build an entire religion around a book? Why not base it around God and that part of ourselves that wishes to connect with this ultimate called ‘faith’? | | |
| I have just returned from a United Church of Christ Rainbow Coalition meeting. This is basically a group of gay, lesbian and straight people who are working towards creating more open and affirming churches within the United Chruch of Christ.
One matter that was brought up was the fact that Bill Keller (an ex-convict) and his show Live Prayer was going national in July. This is worrisome because Keller gives out false information about homosexuality such as the concept that it leads to drug abuse and suicide. He is even insensitive enough to feed this undocumented hearsay to minors who call in with questions about their sexuality. Granted, Keller's show does produce a lot of good. However, he is doing his viewers and callers a great disservice by feeding them inaccurate and misleading information. It is simply not safe to give faulty and hate-driven advice to people, especially minors. Such misleading information just breeds more hate and leads people to lash out in violence such as the recent attack on pop singer Kevin Aviance
As a group, we were amazed that no psychiatric professionals have spoken up to say that Keller's advice, which he attempts to pass off as counseling, is actually harmful to personal development and may lead to negative outcomes such as hate crime and a low sense of self-worth.
I would ask that any professional counselors, therapists, or psychiatrists out there notify Mr. Keller of the great disservice he is doing to his callers and viewers. | | |
| The BBC did a three part series called "The Power of Nightmares" that documents the history of the growth of Islamic Terrorism and Neo-conservatism. These documentaries show how the two groups are widely interdependent on one another and how they both sprang from the same relative mindsets.
These videos are available for FREE download from the link below. The BBC has also given permission for anyone to download and freely distribute these videos for any not-for-profit purpose. If the download takes too long, send me an email I will burn and send anyone a copy of these videos on CD for $2.50. I am assuming that will cover the cost of shipping and handling. Any leftover profit will go to DarfurGenocide.org to help in their efforts. These are some very powerful videos. Please share them with others.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=%22the+power+of+nightmares%22 | | |
| I just recently revamped and started seriously marketing zealotinmycloset.com. I am investing quite a bit in advertising. However, I would also like this to be a grassroots campaign. I would link to offer anyone a tradeoff. If you link to my site from your blog/website I will link to you from my 'resources' section as long as your site pertains to progressive politics or Christianity. Leave a comment here stating that you have linked to me, along with your email. Once I verify the link I will link to you and allow you to come up with a good description of your blog/site.
I hope to hear from many of you.
Joshua | | |
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